St. Landry democrat., 1887-04-09

lngs. The Bible says of Noah:
The Lord shut him in.
| A vessel without bulwarks or doors
would not be safe vessel to go in. When
| Noah and his family heard the fastening
| of the door Of the ark, they were very
| glad. Without those doors were fast
| ened, the first heavy surge of the sea
| would have whelmed them, and they
| might as well have persisted outside the
ark as inside the ark
| The Lord shut him in
o, che perfect safety of the ark! The
| surf Of the sea and the lightnings of the
| sky may be twisted into garland of snow
| and fre-deep to deep, storm to storm,
| darkness to darkness; but once in the
! ark, all is well.
| The LORI, shut him in.
| There comes upon the good man deluge
| of financial troubles. He had his thou
| sands to lend; now he can not borrow u
| dollar. He once owned store in New
| York, and had branch houses in Boston,
Philadelphia and New Orleans. He owned
| four horses, and employed man to keep
| the dust off his coach, phaeton, carriage
| and curricle; now he has hard work to
get shoes IN which to walk. The great
| deep of commercial disaster was broken
cane deck, the waves struck him. But he
| was safely sheltered from the storm.
The Lord shut him
| A flood of domestic troubles fell on him.
| Sickness and bereavement came. The
rain pelted. The win Is blew. The Heav-
ems are ahame. All the gardens of earth
| ly delight are washed away. The fount-
| aims of 10Y are buried fifteen cubits deep
| But, standing by the empty crib, and in
| the desolated nursery, and IN the doleful
| hall, once airing with merry voices, now
| silent forever, he cried:
| The Lord gave. the Lord hath taken away;
| blessed be the name of the Lord
The Lord shut him in.
All the sins of lifetime clamored for
his overthrow. The broken vows, the dis
honest Sabbaths, the outrageous profani-
| ties, the misdemeanors of twenty
years, reached up their hands to
the door Of the ark to pull him out.
The boundless ocean of his sin sur
rounded his soul, bowling like q simeon,
ravng like an euroclydon. But looking
out of the window, he saw his sins sink
like lead into the sea. The dove Of Heav-
en- brought an olive branch to the ark
The wrath of the billow only pushed him
toward Heaven.
The Lord shut him in.
The same door fastenings that kept
Noah in keep the world out / am glad to
know that when man reaches Heaven all
earthly troubles are done with him. Here
he may have had it hard to get bread for
his family; there he will never hunger any
more. Here he may have wept bitterly;
there
The lamb that is in the midst OF the throne
will lead him to living fountains of water, and
God will wipe away alt tears from his eyes.
Here he may hav& hard work to get
house; but in my faS hers house are many
there are death-ht,ds, and collins, and
graves; there no sickness, no weary watch
ing, no choking cough, no consuming
fever, no chattering chill, o tolling bell,
no grave. The sorrows of life shall come
up and knock at the door, but no admit
lance. The perplexities of life shall come
up and knock on the door, but no admit
lance. Safe forever! All the agony of
earth in one wave dashing against the
bulwarks of the ship of celestial light
shall not break them down. Howl on, We
winds, and rage, We seas!
The Lord shut him in.
Now, if the ark Of Christ is so grand
place in which to live, and die, and
triumph, come into the ark. Know well
that the door that shut Noah in shut the
world out; and though, when the pitiless
storm came pelting on their heads, they
beat upon the door, saying, "Let me in
let me inr' the door did not open. For
one hundred and twenty years they were
invited. They expected to come in; but
the antediluvians said:
''We must cultivate these fields; we
must be worth more focks of sheep and
herds of cattle; we will wait until we get
little older; we will enjoy our old farm
a little longer
But meanwhile the storm was brewing
The fountains Of heaven were filling up.
The pry was being placed beneath the
foundations of the great deep. The last
year had come, the last month, the last
week, the last day, the last hour, the last
moment. In an awful dash, an ocean
dropped from the sky, and another rolled
up from beneath; and God rolled the
earth and sky into one wave OF universal
destruction.
So men now put off going into the ark.
They say they will wait twenty years
first. They will have a little longer time
with their worldly associates. They will
wait until they get older. They say:
~ GU can not expect man Oh my az
tainments and of my position to surrender
myself just now. But before the storm
comes will go in. Yes, 1 will. I know
what am about. Trust me-"
After awhile, one night about twelve
O'Clock, going home he passes scaffold-
ing as gust of wind strikes it, and
plank falls Deadl and outside the arkl
Or, riding in the park reckless vehicle
horse Incomes
unmanageable, aud he shouts "Whoa,
whoa,n and takes another twist in the
reins, and plants his feet against the
dashboard, and pulls back But no use.
1t is not so much down the avenue that he
flies as on the way to eternity. Out Of the
wreck of the crash his body is
drawn, but his soul is not
picked up. It fed behind swift
or oursar into the great future. Dead